


A Celebration with Loved Ones and Friends

by profoundbondbusiness



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas Party, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 17:04:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13171338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/profoundbondbusiness/pseuds/profoundbondbusiness
Summary: When December 24th arrived, Yuuki expected it to be like any other Christmas celebration he'd had with his family. Instead, the Phantom Thieves did the unexpected once again; in a way that seemed straight out of a fantasy novel. However, that wasn't the only unexpected thing that day, because Yuuki found himself invited to the a party he would have only dreamed of attending.





	A Celebration with Loved Ones and Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that his wasn't edited by anyone else by me. Also, I did my best to keep the story close to the Christmas celebrations in Japan, so hopefully that worked out well. Also, this story does contain minor spoilers for the end of the game, with one more obvious than the other. So, if you haven't beaten the game, or plan on beating the game, this will kind of spoil some stuff for you. Keep that in mind in case you decide to read it.

When Yuuki found himself standing in the Station Square, between Shibuya Station and Central Street, with the lights from the billboards and the Christmas lights illuminating the streets and the people walking past, he felt like he’d awoken from a strange dream. Just moments ago, Japan had been covered in bones, people were disappearing, and the Phantom Thieves were fighting some strange monster claiming to be a god. In the end, the Phantom Thieves had come out on top- and Yuuki was still having trouble believing he’d helped them at all- because the people of Japan had started believing in them again. But when everything was all said and done, it seemed like life would return to normal. Yuuki, though, wasn’t sure he would be able to return to a normal life.

It was because the Phantom Thieves had been such a huge part of his life for the past couple of months and now that it seemed like their fighting was over, he wasn’t sure what would happen with his life. For months, he’d been struggling to deal with the abuse he suffered at the hands of Kamoshida and the reappearance of his middle school bullies. With all of that emotional trauma, he’d done the only thing he could think of. Yuuki had tried to use the Phantom Thieves to deal with his problems, and he still felt ashamed of his behavior. He had been hoping that the Phantom Thieves could just make his problems disappear so he wouldn’t have to deal with them. But when Yuuki realized what he’d been doing- when he realized how he was abusing his relationship with the Phantom Thieves and his best friend- he’d felt nothing but guilt and resolved to do better.

It hadn’t been easy, but the fact that he’d been able to help the main person who bullied him in middle school showed he was making progress. Despite this progress, Yuuki could also acknowledge that the Phantom Thieves played a huge role in his recovery. Not so much physically, outside of the contact he had with Akira, but just through the fact that they accepted the information he gave them. Even after all his mistakes, the fact that the Phantom Thieves had continued to ask him for help made Yuuki realize, that, at the very least, they saw him as useful. And, deep down, he also hoped Akira saw him as a friend, but since the black haired teen was pretty reserved, he couldn’t be sure.

A loud beeping noise pulled Yuuki from his thoughts, and he finally walked onto the sidewalk, nimbly trying to avoid the people who were passing through to Central Street. Once he was out of people’s way, Yuuki reached into the pocket of his black and red checkered pants and pulled out his cell phone. On his lock screen he saw there was a message from Akira, which was highly unusual. He’d always been the one messaging the enigmatic leader of the Phantom Thieves so he was surprised by this turn of events. With slightly shaking hands, the raven haired teen unlocked his phone and opened the waiting message. 

_Be at LeBlanc in 30 minutes_

Yuuki tilted his head slightly as he stared at the message, pondering what it could mean. He’d heard of LeBlanc, it was a coffee shop in Yongen-jaya, but he couldn’t figure out why Akira wanted to meet him there. Especially on Christmas Eve- and Yuuki jumped when that thought crossed his mind. He’d completely forgotten it was Christmas Eve, and for that matter, his parents would probably be wondering where he was at. And while he knew he should call them, to make sure they were fine, and that nothing serious had happened to them, the trains would probably be busy at this time of night and it might actually take him 30 minutes to get to Yongen-jaya. So Yuuki sent a quick text to his parents, telling them he’d be heading to Yongen-jaya for a while and that he wasn’t sure when he’d be home.

Once that text had been sent, he ran to the train station in the hopes that he could make the next train. That was dashed when he saw just how many people were walking into the station, and even standing on his toes, Yuuki could easily see he’d be in the station for a while. Feeling slightly disappointed that he wouldn’t be arriving on time, he replied to Akira’s message to let him know that he’d be arriving late due to holiday train traffic. 

Much to his surprise, the crowd of people entering Shibuya station were moving at a pretty quick pace. There were still moments when Yuuki found himself not moving, hands shoved into his plaid school pants, and desperately trying not to get knocked over in the large crowd. The situation in the station was a mess, as everyone was loudly talking into their phones or to each other, and people were pushing their way to get to the station they needed. It was the first time he’d ever seen the station this packed, but considering what had happened not even an hour ago, Yuuki assumed this was to be expected. Shibuya had been more crowded than usual when the Phantom Thieves had finished their fight and everything had gone back to normal.

Eventually, despite all the people in the station Yuuki finally made it onto a train heading to Yongen-jaya. There wasn’t any where to sit, so he was left standing, and holding onto the silver bar above him to keep from falling over. The train was just as noisy as the station was, but this time it didn’t just sound like white noise. While no one seemed to be talking about the strange event that had just occurred, he could hear people talking to their family members, desperate to make sure they were okay, and other people were loudly discussing all the terrible things Shido had done and how he didn’t deserve to keep his current position.

When Yuuki heard this he felt overwhelmed. Apparently the Phantom Thieves hadn’t just saved Japan, they’d changed everyone’s hearts. He’d been so worried when he realized that Shido had still been elected by the people of Japan. But it seemed that things had finally changed. It was at that moment, when they had minutes before the train arrived, that Yuuki realized the colors around him were starting to blend together. He quickly pulled his other hand out of his pocket and rubbed the sleeve of his white turtleneck across his eyes. 

At that moment the train reached the station, and Yuuki felt himself being knocked around by the people exiting the train. It took him a few minutes to get off the train, and when he did, he headed for the yellow stairs just a few feet away. From what he could tell, that was the only exit from the station and he soon found himself standing in a small alleyway. Not to far away, he saw a student wearing a Shujin uniform, with a yellow t-shirt poking out from the collar, and blond hair.

“Sakamoto!” Yuuki yelled, waving his hand as the teen turned around.

“Hey, Mishima,” Ryuji said, grinning widely, “Let’s go, and call me Ryuji, yeah.”

Saka...no, Ryuji’s comment made Yuuki assume that he knew where they were going, because he had never been here before. It didn’t seem to be a large area, as it took only just a few minutes for them to find the cafe. LeBlanc was off of a side street in Yogen-jaya, which looked plain on the outside except for the awning which had faded red and pink stripes. As Ryuji opened the door, Yuuki noticed movement from nearby. He saw yellow eyes glowing in the dark and a flash of white.

“Hey, Ryuji, isn’t that Kurusu’s cat?” 

The cat yowled and tried to run, but Yuuki was quicker and picked it up before it could get away. From the way he picked it up, Yuuki noticed the cat was male with white paws, a white tipped tail, and a yellow collar. The cat was thin, and had sharp claws, so Yuuki made sure to be careful when he adjusted his grip on the cat to support it better.

“Morgana, there you are,” Akira said, his voice full of some emotion Yuuki couldn’t figure out.

The cat let out a series of meows, and for a moment Yuuki could have sworn the cat was addressing the group. Even though they were all looking fondly at the cat, Morgana seemed to be content in his arms. So, they all stood there for a few minutes until a voice from beyond the door told them to come inside. 

When he walked into the small cafe, the first thing he noticed were the smells coming from the various plates on the counter. There was one with fried chicken, another with a delicious looking, though slightly squashed, strawberry shortcake, various plates of curry, cups of coffee, and...a bowl of candy. He was slightly surprised by that, though more surprised by the turkey sitting next to it. As the others started taking seats in the booths and on the chairs at the counter, he noticed there were some lights hanging above the booths, and one had a tiny Christmas tree on it.

“Hey Mishima, stop starin at the lights and come sit down,” Ryuji said, pointing to the empty seat in the booth next to Akira.

“Oh, uh, yes, right,” Yuuki stumbled over his response as he moved to sit at the table with Morgana.

“Wait, before you sit down, I think introductions are in order.” Makoto Niijima, the girl he recognized as Shujin’s class president, said, pointing towards the adults at the far booth.

“The older gentleman is Sojiro Sakura, though you can call him boss,” Makoto said while pointing to Sakura, who Yuuki vaguely recognized from the incident earlier that evening. “And finally, we have my older sister, Sae Niijima.” Her older sister was sitting across from Boss, wearing a black suit, and she waved when he looked in her direction.

“Nice to meet you both,” Yuuki said, bowing his head in their direction, all while being mindful of the cat in his arms.

“And of course, you can call me Makoto,” she said, giving him a small smile. The next couple of seconds was full of everyone else, besides Ryuji, echoing Makoto’s sentiments and telling him to call them by their first names. Just hearing everyone say that filled Yuuki with a mix of emotions he couldn’t even begin to describe. It meant they all viewed him as a friend, and that was the best gift he could have asked for.

When the introductions were finally over, he was free to sit down and Morgana moved to curl up on the bench between himself and Akira. That also seemed to be what the others were waiting for as they started filling plates and passing them around. Ryuji and Ann were standing at the counter, plating food and arguing as they did it, while Makoto just stared at them with an exasperated, yet fond look on her face.

Yuusuke, who he recognizes as one of the victims from the Madarame case, was sitting on one of the chairs at the counter, speaking to Futaba, who was sitting in the booth next to Haru. Yuuki felt a mix of emotions when he thought about what her father had done, but also what had happened to the man, though he did his best not to let show on his face. It was an odd mix of people, and yet he couldn’t feel prouder for them. At the same time, he felt humbled to even be included in what was clearly their Christmas celebration. Yuuki was having trouble believing he was here, because he hadn’t thought he was that important to the Phantom Thieves.

“Before we eat I wish to say something,” Makoto said, standing from her seat at the counter. “As you all know, we have gone through a lot this past year, and tonight we accomplished a great feat. However, more than celebrating our victory, I believe we should be celebrating those who supported and believed in us.”

“Hell Yeah!” Ryuji yelled, jumping up from his seat. “‘Ain’t no way we would have beat that asshole if it hadn’t been for Mishima.”

“Oh...I...what? But I didn’t do anything Ryuji.” Yuuki stammered, waving his hands in front of his chest.

“Now that isn’t true,” Yusuke said, turning to look at him, “while it’s true we did all of the fighting, we wouldn’t have been able to finish Yaldaboath if you hadn’t gotten through to the people around you.”

“Yeah,” Ann chime in, “we were able to beat that guy because the people of Japan remembered and believed in us.”

“Exactly. So, does this mean we can eat now?” Futuba asked, breaking the somewhat serious moment and causing everyone to laugh.

“Go ahead,” Akira said, and with that Futaba happily dug into her food.

Everyone else just laughed before starting to eat as well. Shortly the cafe was filled with the sounds of everyone talking and laughing, and the smells from the different foods mixing together. All in all, it created a warm atmosphere that made Yuuki want to cry, though he did his best to hold it together. It was nice to see everyone smiling and having fun, and to have been included as well. He’d never been invited to a celebration like this before, and even though, typically, people either celebrated with their significant others or families, Yuuki was glad to be here. 

“And here I thought Mona didn’t like being petted,” Futaba said, peering over the table at the cat.

Yuuki was forcefully pulled from his thoughts by that comment, and that was when he realized he could hear Morgana purring. Looking down, he realized he’d started petting the cat without even realizing. That was when he remember what Futaba said, and when he went to pull his hand away, Morgana yowled and reached for his hand. Everyone laughed as Yuuki immediately went back to petting Morgana, who settled down and started purring again.

“Mona?” Yuuki asked, as he stopped staring at the cat and looked up at Futaba.

“It’s a nickname we gave him,” Akira said just as Futaba opened her mouth to respond. She pouted for a brief moment, most likely upset she hadn’t been able to respond, before shrugging and going back to her cake.

Instead of responding, Yuuki nodded and went back to observing the Phantom Thieves as Akira resumed his conversation with Haru. It was more apparent now than it had been earlier in the evening, but Yuuki had noticed that once in a while, one of the Phantom Thieves would stop talking or eating, and stare off in some random direction. He couldn’t really describe the emotion he saw on their faces, but it always looked like they were relieving some profoundly sad moment. There had even been one moment when Futaba had looked like she was going to make a comment in the direction of the counter, but seemed to catch herself and just stared at it forlornly. 

Of course, those moments never lasted for long, and while Yuuki really wanted to know what was going on, he also felt it would be inappropriate to ask. So, he kept his mouth shut and instead tried to join in on some of the conversations. Despite the fact that it seemed like the Phantom Thieves had lost someone, it also seemed like they were holding a celebration for that person as well. That set the tone for the rest of the night; the Phantom Thieves celebrating and mourning the loss of someone they knew. Eventually, when the food had been finished everyone was content to just sit around and talk, though there were several different conversations going on at once.

Haru and Ann were discussing plants and Ann’s modeling work, over Futaba’s head. Yusuke and Makoto seemed to be talking about painting and various hang out spots around the city, while Ryuji and Akira were talking about, well Yuuki wasn’t sure what they were talking about. Even though they were talking to each other over his head, Futaba decided at that moment to ask him some questions about his website. So they spent some time talking about how he put the site together, and what program he used. Yuuki realized minutes into the conversation that Futaba knew much more about this kind of thing than he did, but he did his best to keep up with her.

“Well, I’d love to let you kids talk all night, but you should probably start heading out now,” Boss said, standing up from the booth the adults had been sitting at.

“I agree,” Sae said, “It’s already 10:30 so I’m sure your parents, or guardians,” and Sae looked at Yusuke and Haru when she said that, “must be getting worried.”

When the teens offered to help clean up, Boss waved them away, though he gave Futaba and Akira very pointed looks as he did. Everyone laughed when they saw that, and instead started saying their goodbyes to the three who’d be staying behind. From there, it was a short walk to the train station, and they all ended up heading to Shibuya together. Once they were there, everyone said their final goodbyes before heading off in different directions. Yuuki spent a few minutes staring at the spot where the rest of the Phantom Thieves had stood before pulling out his phone. He sent two quick messages before heading home.

The first was to his parents, letting them know he was on his way. The second was to Akira and it contained just a couple of words; _Thanks, and Merry Christmas_. And for once, Yuuki spent Christmas not with his parents, desperate to get away from them as quickly as possible, but with friends, laughing and having a good time. Yuuki, in that moment, knew that regardless of what the future held, he’d always treasure that Christmas with the Phantom Thieves.


End file.
